More quality tools from our hard working friends in Pakistan!

[A.K. Boomer]

The mom and pop stores sold the same bad stuff as the others back then. I know, I was in them.

It's the food type, not the food store.

The Mom and Pop's stores also sold a better "food type" --- which came from Mom and Pop's farms... and hard work getting it to the store - and selling it too...

[Tundra Twin Track]

When things were" normal" I used to attend steam shows and similar events in all sorts of places in Ontario. I noticed that" Farm Children" of all sorts of ages were more Inquisitive about my models than " city Children", that they were generally more mechanically minded, and had much more respect , for people and property.
Their questions were more searching, and their ability to grasp concepts of equipment much greater,
When I got questions such as" Why does Dad use a diesel tractor rather than a steam engine I had to answer quickly, correctly and in language children could follow.
Assuming that is the result of their being" Child Labour" for careful and loving parents is not too great a step.
I am fully in favour of using child labour appropriately. My children are now grown and have children of their own, they all willingly help when necessary.
Regards David Powell

A lot of Companies would hire Farm or Rural Kids just for the fact they’ve been exposed to broader tasks that Urban Kids had no connection with growing up.

[J Tiers]

The Mom and Pop's stores also sold a better "food type" --- which came from Mom and Pop's farms... and hard work getting it to the store - and selling it too...

Not most of them. Not for longer than I have been around and noticing. Only maybe for fresh produce in season. Canned etc stuff was the same all over.

Butcher's department? Well, better cuts, but cattle fed the same.

Mom & Pop stores were not to be mistaken for "Whole Wallet" (Whole foods). Only cranks like my Grandma were into organic farming back then. Her stuff tasted MUCH better than store-boughten.

[wierdscience]

Down where "Weird" lives, it's about half the population. And the problem exists everywhere that there is not a famine, not just in the US. But it's usually expressed as an exclusively US problem.

Most food is "designed" to make people fat these days. Just don't eat (and drink) that stuff, because it WILL make you fat (and likely diabetic also).

But it's not education that makes people fat.... many of the fattest are the least educated. Could be a reason for that.

Notice the graphic Warbirds posted in post #106. It corresponds nicely with the decline in manufacturing. In my teens, every county had a multitude of small farms, but every little town had several small manufacturing plants. Lots of jobs for all education and age levels and many that required physical work. The end came with the passage of the "large sucking sound from the south".

[vectorwarbirds]

Notice the graphic Warbirds posted in post #106. It corresponds nicely with the decline in manufacturing. In my teens, every county had a multitude of small farms, but every little town had several small manufacturing plants. Lots of jobs for all education and age levels and many that required physical work. The end came with the passage of the "large sucking sound from the south".

The US is not only becoming more obese its becoming stupider as well. We are checking all the boxes for decline of empire I am sorry to say.

[J Tiers]

....................... The end came with the passage of the "large sucking sound from the south".

So you think...... but actually not.

The end came with the huge sucking sound from china. It sucked the life out south of the border as much or more than it did here. And in europe also. Thanks to Walmart.

[A.K. Boomer]

The US is not only becoming more obese its becoming stupider as well. We are checking all the boxes for decline of empire I am sorry to say.

It's so very true - along with most of the globe, But I believe it's far bigger than any of that, I think good ole Ma nature is going to be handing all of us our asses very soon in so many ways the proverbial "dog chasing it's tail" phrase will actually look productive in comparison,,,

Heck - really - that's already happening right now but it will be increasing ten fold in short order, and then one hundred and so on,,, we need to choke on it - we've earned it, we got about as much foresight as a lemming... what a dumb ass species....

[Black Forest]

A lot of Companies would hire Farm or Rural Kids just for the fact they’ve been exposed to broader tasks that Urban Kids had no connection with growing up.

Our daughter has started her education at the justice department. She was selected over 100's of applicants. The interview process was excruciating. We found out after she was offered the position and had been there about a month that the head of the department was shocked at how many skills she has that most people never master let alone a teenager. Life on a horse farm has prepared her well.

[nickel-city-fab]

So you think...... but actually not.

The end came with the huge sucking sound from china. It sucked the life out south of the border as much or more than it did here. And in europe also. Thanks to Walmart.

Glad I'm not the only one who remembers. Though FWIW Mexico had just as much as China to do with it, if you drive one of the "Big Three" cars then major sub-assemblies were made in Mexico. As well as India, the Philippines, etc etc etc. I am convinced that the whole globalization/"free trade" thing was intended to break the back of American labor, as well as American consumers. Since they tend to be one and the same. This is why I *refuse* to buy new tools that are made offshore. Ditto for new clothing. I refuse to shop the "big box" stores of which you mentioned one of them.... Having family whose pensions were looted by the big bosses shortly before their jobs miraculously re-appeared in a different country...

[vectorwarbirds]

Glad I'm not the only one who remembers. Though FWIW Mexico had just as much as China to do with it, if you drive one of the "Big Three" cars then major sub-assemblies were made in Mexico. As well as India, the Philippines, etc etc etc. I am convinced that the whole globalization/"free trade" thing was intended to break the back of American labor, as well as American consumers. Since they tend to be one and the same. This is why I *refuse* to buy new tools that are made offshore. Ditto for new clothing. I refuse to shop the "big box" stores of which you mentioned one of them.... Having family whose pensions were looted by the big bosses shortly before their jobs miraculously re-appeared in a different country...

I think you might be fighting a losing battle, a righteous one but still losing. Toyota becomes US largest carmaker.

"For the first time in nearly 100 years, Toyota sold more vehicles in a year in America than General Motors or any other car company, based on a report of year-end 2021 sales released Tuesday."

[J Tiers]

I think you might be fighting a losing battle, a righteous one but still losing. Toyota becomes US largest carmaker.

"For the first time in nearly 100 years, Toyota sold more vehicles in a year in America than General Motors or any other car company, based on a report of year-end 2021 sales released Tuesday."

Many of those cars were at least assembled here, unlike most of what you find in a Walmart. A lot of "foreign" cars are assembled here. It makes more sense than the shipping at the volumes needed. Toyota has 4 factories in the US. You can look it up.

[A.K. Boomer]

I actually thought Yodertoy had that claim more than a decade ago but must have been world wide leader...

[vectorwarbirds]

Many of those cars were at least assembled here, unlike most of what you find in a Walmart. A lot of "foreign" cars are assembled here. It makes more sense than the shipping at the volumes needed. Toyota has 4 factories in the US. You can look it up.

Toyota and its subsidiaries are a Japanese owned company. That means the vast amount of profit and growth goes to another country not ours.

[J Tiers]

Toyota and its subsidiaries are a Japanese owned company. That means the vast amount of profit and growth goes to another country not ours.

Yah think? That's obvious. However, the factories employ locals, which is the original point.

If you think for even a moment that profits from American "multinational" companies stay in the US, you better think again. They rush that money out of the US before you can see it whiz by. Apple, for instance, does that. So do most others.

That's what happens with "multinational" companies. Toyota is one of those, by the way. They have no allegiance to any country. They arrange to "receive" the profits in whatever country has the lowest taxes, or no taxes. That's why those island countries in the Caribbean are "home" to many companies.

[Tundra Twin Track]

Our daughter has started her education at the justice department. She was selected over 100's of applicants. The interview process was excruciating. We found out after she was offered the position and had been there about a month that the head of the department was shocked at how many skills she has that most people never master let alone a teenager. Life on a horse farm has prepared her well.

Good for her BF,not downplaying or bashing the kids from urban background,but a lot of rural kids see and experience a pretty vast assortment of tasks some at a very young age.I’m sure the urban kids have more street smarts and other things,just different depending on the environment they grew up in.